With the sudden death of her husband, Alice-Ellen Burstyn in an Oscar winning performance, is forced to fend for herself and her son who is quite a character.
The story deals with the odyssey of Alice and her son as they attempt to get to California.
It's a story of a desperate woman, slapped down by life itself who really tries to pull herself up against adversity.
She meets up with Ben, a young stud who is cheating on his wife. Harvey Keitel,as Ben, shows a mean, vicious streak and is compelling in his brief turn on screen.
Kris Kristofferson is basically a man of her dreams. It looks like the affair is over when he attempts to discipline her unruly son.
While trying to sing, Alice winds up as a waitress in Mel's Diner. There she meets Flo, played with relish by a gutsy Diane Ladd. Ladd is a foul-mouthed babe one moment and an understanding friend the next. She well merited her best supporting actress nomination here. Vera, in this film, is depicted as an out of control, emotionally unbalanced woman. She is totally different from the Vera of the television series. That person was vulnerable by her simplicity.
Burstyn earned the Oscar as a woman driven by despair, desperately hoping to grab something positive in this life. Vic Tayback is the only cast member who was also on the television series. He is much more subdued here.
The story deals with the odyssey of Alice and her son as they attempt to get to California.
It's a story of a desperate woman, slapped down by life itself who really tries to pull herself up against adversity.
She meets up with Ben, a young stud who is cheating on his wife. Harvey Keitel,as Ben, shows a mean, vicious streak and is compelling in his brief turn on screen.
Kris Kristofferson is basically a man of her dreams. It looks like the affair is over when he attempts to discipline her unruly son.
While trying to sing, Alice winds up as a waitress in Mel's Diner. There she meets Flo, played with relish by a gutsy Diane Ladd. Ladd is a foul-mouthed babe one moment and an understanding friend the next. She well merited her best supporting actress nomination here. Vera, in this film, is depicted as an out of control, emotionally unbalanced woman. She is totally different from the Vera of the television series. That person was vulnerable by her simplicity.
Burstyn earned the Oscar as a woman driven by despair, desperately hoping to grab something positive in this life. Vic Tayback is the only cast member who was also on the television series. He is much more subdued here.